Busing, Bike Racing, Backpacks, Bear, Burgers and Beer... A Very Good Day to be a Boulderite

Today was Boulder's day to play host for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, a 7-day stage race that makes its way through a good swath of Colorado. There's been a lot of excitement and anticipation in this town for a while (especially since the town wasn't part of the race last year), and with the finish line atop the locally famous Flagstaff Mountain, the buzz was growing as this weekend approached.

So this morning, we packed up a couple backpacks with gear necessary to make it through the day...  water, camp chairs, sunscreen, sidewalk chalk, homemade posters, bubbles, snacks, a cowbell, etc.  You know... bike-race-watching stuff.  With said backpacks on backs, we walked down to the nearest bus stop and caught the public bus that goes downtown and made our way to our first viewing point for the race.  It wasn't terribly crowded where we were -- people were just one-deep along the side of the road -- but it offered good viewing and was a quite convenient starting point to get to viewing point #2. 

Once the race cleared viewing point #1, we, accompanied by some similarly minded friends, began our quest to get up on Flagstaff and find a place well up on the hill to see the suffer-fest that was due in about 3 hours time.  The first part of this quest involved taking a hiking trail to get to the road itself.  What the trail lacked in length (0.9 miles) it made up for in elevation gain (about 560 feet, or an average grade of around 11%.)  Those figures notwithstanding, the atmosphere on the trail was jovial.  Once we reached the road, we took a break to eat some lunch and take in the mass of fellow spectators making their way up the road on bike or foot.  (The road was closed to auto traffic the previous night sometime.)  We joined them in short order, and began our own ascent of Flagstaff Road. 

We were only about 0.5 mile from the bottom of the climb (via road) at this point, and about 3.5 miles worth of pavement sat between us and the finish.  We knew we had a too late of a start to get ourselves a spot along the finishing section, but if we could find a place in the upper half of the climb, we'd be happy.  Amidst bikes, cyclists, and all manner of pedestrians in all manner of costumes, we followed the road to a switchback about 1.5 miles from the finish, and "made camp" there.  Unlike our first viewing point, we could easily tell this wasn't going to be a "one deep" stretch of road... there was still about 90 minutes until the first racers arrived, and there were plenty of people already on the shoulder of the road, and plenty still making their way up.

In the meantime, we unpacked our backpacks and began utilizing some of the implements we brought along... Chloe and I chalked the road a little bit (it wasn't easy to do with people constantly streaming by), Chloe and her friends Evan, Olivia and Mandy blew bubbles and handed out extra bottles to other kids who passed by, and warmed-up the cow bell by ringing it for those who chose to ascend by bike.

It was amazing how quickly time flew, for it seemed in no time we began hearing the helicopter (it provides the aerial coverage of the front of the race) and seeing the very first race-related vehicles that are up the road a bit from the racers making sure the course is clear and providing updates on the race situation via a PA system.  More cars and motorcycles -- some race officials, some state law enforcement -- continued to build the crescendo. 

And then, all fun and craziness broke loose as we saw the first cyclist approaching, trying to protect his breakaway status. He was swarmed by the crowd, and given near-deafening encouragement and support.  The same held true for the next few short minutes, as those who were chasing him down for the stage win, and those contending to win the overall race, made their way through the gauntlet of spectators screaming, blowing their horns and ringing their cow bells. Racers trickled up the mountain for the next 15 minutes or so, each one getting a fine "Welcome to Flagstaff" salute. We began our descent after the "Broom Wagon" came by, and enjoyed the still-festival-like atmosphere all the way back to the trail we used to reach the road on our ascent. 

As if the day wasn't "Boulder" enough, during our way down the dirt trail, we saw a rather large bear on an adjacent hillside (about 75 yards away) and then once in town, met up with some more friends for a post-race burger and beer at one of our favorite watering holes.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

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For a video clip of some of the action on Flagstaff, follow this link.
 - The clip is in 2 sections:  the first is us shortly after we reached Flagstaff Road from the dirt trail, and walking towards Viewing Point #2; the second section is of the first racers coming by.
 - On the topic of the racers, the first one you see is of eventual stage winner Rory Sutherland; the third racer is Jens Voigt.  Later you'll see Andreas Kloden, and a little after him is Levi Leipheimer breaking away from Tejay van Garderen (in yellow jersey) and Christian Vande Velde (shortly after they go by, you'll hear Chloe correctly state she saw Tejay, and I incorrectly dismissing her.)

We didn't take a lot of photos today, but here are some.

Another 13.1 in the books...

Peggy here, your guest author at KnPnCnC.  Some of you may recall that I did a half-marathon in Fort Collins, CO shortly after moving to Colorado.  Since then, I've kept up with the running, more or less.  After all, it's impossible to lay on the couch, eating chips and drinking beer when you live in BoCo.  You either swim (which is a great weakness for me), bike (too scary...I sold mine) or run (BINGO!).  Right around Christmas, I was itching to do another half when my sister Jess mentioned that Lansing, MI, her current hometown, was putting on the inaugural Lansing Half Marathon in April.  And after much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, I was able to persuade both Jess and my other sister, Cathy, to sign up as well.


Training began in January and I have to admit, I gave it my all.  I didn't care what my time was but I was NOT going to be beaten by two YOUNGER sisters.  Race weekend came fast and Chloe and I flew to Detroit and then drove to Lansing the Friday before the race to spend time with my sister Jess and her family.  As is typical, I slept very little the night before the race and felt nauseous with anxiety when I woke up.  Cathy, Jess and I lined up and off we went on this mostly flat course.  It was crazy cold and windy but I warmed up fast and at mile 5, I KNEW this was going to be one of my best runs ever.  I felt so strong and when the first of the two big hills came, I powered up it, barely breathing hard.  Mile 10 was a little tough as I was starting to tire but I cranked up the Eminem on my MP3 player, thought of Kurt and how hard he pushes himself when he trains and fired it up.  Mile 11 and 12 flew by as I sang and smiled...I HAD THIS.


I always make it a point to turn off the music the last mile as the crowd energy and support is overwhelming; you have to hear this.  I ran across the line SMILING...what a truly awesome time.

Cathy came by next and then Jess.  We all rocked it and I was so proud of all of us.

The three Walls sisters with their shiny medals.  YEAH US!

While both of my sisters had a few choice words for me as they came across the finish, along the lines of "Who's ideas was this?!?!? Never again!", I am already hearing rumblings of doing another one from Jess and I am confident that Cathy could be talked into it again as well.

A Telluride Weekend

With it being both (close to) Peg's birthday and a 4-day weekend for Chloe, we loaded up the car and traveled to the southwest part of the State, a part we've always wanted to check out since we moved out here as we had heard the San Juan Mountains were absolutely spectacular, and the skiing could be pretty good, too.  A trip to this part of the State is no small undertaking... we luckily had great driving conditions, and it still took us over 7 hours of moving time to get there.  We knew within moments of arriving, though, that those 7 hours in a car seat were well worth it (and he hadn't even put on our skis yet.)

I could sit here and give you a detailed day-by-day recap, but each day was pretty much the same:  wake up, eat breakfast, take the funicular down to the slopes, ski until the lifts close, grab a drink and/or bite to eat, head back to the condo and its hot tub, then either eat dinner in or go out.  Sure, there are subtle differences on some days, but that was basically the (glorious) routine.  We had 2 perfect days of skiing weather-wise on Saturday and Monday (with the latter being a blue bird day), whereas the weather on Sunday was cold and windy -- highs in the low 20s and 25+ mph winds.  The warming huts were very popular that day, and the gloves stayed on a lot that day, too, so few pictures were taken.

We didn't stay in the town of Telluride itself, rather, in the nearby Mountain Village (the newer part of the ski area) with it's often-times huge single family homes, and larger hotels and condo complexes.  The two areas, though, are connected by a free, public gondola system that allowed us to get into town in about 20 minutes time without having to get in our car or worry about parking.

And last, but not least, HAPPY 29TH PEGGY!

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the weekend.

Here's another cool picture I found while writing this post and researching some of the details of the town, mountain, etc.  It annotates the visible peaks and their elevations.  (Click on the image to enlarge/magnify it.)  It was taken near the same spot where Chloe and I had our picture taken atop Chair 14.

A Quick Recap, and a Funny Incident Involving a "C"

Yes, I know there's been another gap of substantive posts from me (not that I consider our wedding anniversary "unsubstantial") but when things get busy, the blog takes a seat on the back burner.  But, because of a funny little incident this morning, I thought I'd bang out some words to give a quick update on things, and finish up with this morning's incident.

Finishing up the
TT in Steamboat

 - I'm still biking and racing, though my racing season comes to an end this month.  I was in a stage race in Steamboat Springs over labor day weekend.  It started out well (5th out of 43 in the TT) but the wheels came off on the following days... I had to avoid 2 crashes in the crit, and flatted going over some RR tracks in the road race.  It clearly wasn't my weekend to complete the race, so I DNF-ed.  Despite that disappointment, I'm very happy with my TT performance and place.  I'm currently taking part in a 4-week TT race series, the first was last Thursday.  Continuing the "luck" from Steamboat, I dropped a chain at the start and lost about 40"... I finished 12th out 23, but would have come in around 5th or 6th had I had a smooth start.

Chloe before her 1st
soccer match

 - Chloe's been in school about a month already and really enjoys her teacher.  Her fall soccer season started as well, and has played 2 games already.  She's playing well (though still has some "picking daisies" lapses), and seems more comfortable in the "defense" positions.
 - Peggy's work is going well, and, as anticipated during these first couple of months with her new company, has her traveling a lot lately. (I'm estimating that between July24th and today, we've been together as a family for 3 weeks.... some of it is her travel, some of that is my time in France.)  But, we knew this would be the case so it's not a complete shock.  She really enjoys her new colleagues and role, so that makes it a lot easier for her (and us) to deal with the separation.

 - And finally, Chamberlain, the seldom-mentioned member of the family... he's doing well, and is the subject of this morning's "incident."  I took him with me as I walked Chloe to the bus stop.  Once she boarded and departed, I continued to walk with him around the neighborhood for a bit.  We were walking on a sidewalk, when up ahead of us, I, and he, noticed a rabbit sitting along a fence.  He kept an eye on it as we got closer, and when we got to about 15 feet of it, it took off in front of us and across the street. 
     I fully expected to have a tug-o-war on my hands.  But instead, I watched Chamberlain watch the rabbit run, and then watched him walk over to the fence to where the rabbit was sitting and take a leak!

It was 14 years ago today, in a church in Clymer, PA...

... that I married the love of my life.

Kurt's Bike Trip in France - Part IX: In closing, Merci and Au Revoir

Well, I’m sitting here on the TGV making my way from Avignon to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, typing up this postscript and getting glimpses of the French countryside as it whizzes by.

Less there be any doubt, this was a week I will always remember. Though I fashion myself a cyclist, I never, ever thought I’d be pedaling my way up climbs with names like Alpe d’Huez, Lautaret, Galibier, Glandon, Croix de Fer and Ventoux. Never. And for that I must say Merci/Thank You to my lovely wife, Peggy… you are the best. It’s because of you (and your being tired of hearing me pine for a road bike and forcing me to go and get the damn thing!) that I became the cycling enthusiast that I am. And it is also because of you (and your GREAT knack for gift giving) that I did this tour. I know this wasn’t an easy time for you for me to be away, with a new job and all and keeping Chloe busy. So, Peggy, from the bottom of my heart, “Merci” for such a wonderful gift and experience.

And to my tour mates Dave, Fernando and Luis, guides Julien and Patrick, and the “epic climbs” with whom I spent a most enjoyable week, I say Au Revoir. If you are ever in Colorado…

Let "The Summer of Peggy" End

As written in the 4/20 post here, Peg began her self-induced-AND-completely-appropriate unemployment from UBC in late-April. Even before the ink dried on the "don't the door hit you on the way out" papers, she had companies a-callin' to see if she would join their ranks.

One such company was Parexel, a pharmaceutical consulting company along the lines of her previous employers. It was this company's offer (role, compensation, etc.) that won out over the others she received. And as of today, she is now an employee of that company, visiting their Waltham, MA offices to do some internal meet-and-greets over the next several days, and plot out their plan for world domination. (Don't hold me to that last part... they are a big company, though.)

Awesome job, Peg... and you we're worried? Sheesh!

Latest Goings On

Despite my intentions of keeping this thing more up to date, June was a bad month to have that happen. Bad only because we had (and have) such a fun-n-busy month that my little blurbs here had to take a back seat. But it's currently a little before 7:00 this morning and I have some time to jot down some details about what's been going on over the last couple of weeks.

- Birthday & camping: On the first weekend of the month, friends (some as far away as IL) joined us for a little camping outing in Rocky Mountain National Park to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was such a wonderful, relaxing and fun time just sitting around with snow covered peaks in the background, elk walking through the campsite and family and friends nearby... not a bad way to close out one's fourth decade. (Picture to the right: Sprague Lake and environs.)

- Railroads, running and rafting: A couple days after the camping, my parents came out to visit for several days. They've seen Boulder already, so we spent most of the time with them out in the mountains: we took a mine tour in Breckenridge, a scenic train ride out of Leadville, and the highlight (at least for me)... a whitewater rafting trip. If was the first time doing rafting for my parents (mid-70s) and Chloe (8) and it was a pretty good introduction to the activity. For one, the river we rode had some pretty good Class III rapids on it... nothing too nutsy, but definitely plenty enough bouncing around to get some walls of water splashing into the raft at times. As for the water, it was moving pretty good and was frigid... due to the high snowpack and therefore prolonged melt-off, the river water had a good pace going and was only about 34° F. Accordingly, wetsuits were donned by all. It was about a 70 minute float, and we all had a great time... my parents would consider doing it again (which is awesome!), though would want to try a longer trip on Class IIIs and in warmer water before considering some Class IVs.

Another reason we spent some time out in the mountains is that Peggy was signed up for a running race. For the months leading up to it, she had been training for the half-marathon option. During the last 2 weeks, though, she came down with some kind of cold or virus infection that left her really congested and she wasn't able to keep up with her training. All wasn't lost as the race organizers had a 10K option as well. Given she was still not 100% and not breathing the best, and over 4,000 feet higher in elevation that what she's used to, she opted to run that and was able to beat the time she set for herself (another "awesome!") (Pictures in this section, top to bottom: My Dad taking in the views during the train ride; KnPnC 900 feet underground in the Country Boy Mine; Peggy in the final steps of her 10K; and my Mom and Chloe prepping for some rafting.)

- Bike Racing and Fathers Day: And just this last weekend, we again found ourselves traveling to another part of the state so that I could take part in 3 days of bike racing. During this trip, we called Carbondale, CO home for a couple of nights so I could do a 12-mile time trial on Friday evening, a 45-minute criterium on Saturday, and 54-mile road race on Sunday. I won't go into details for each race; rather I finished near mid-pack for the TT and road race, and near last in the criterium (the reason being I had to avoid a crash on the closing laps and lost contact with the lead pack.) During our stay out there, we also visited the hot springs pool in Glenwood Springs and had a great time. The main pool is quite impressive: it's 405 feet long and 100 feet wide, contains 1,071,000 gallons of water, and is kept at about 90° F.

With Peggy still in "Summer of Peggy" mode and Chloe not having anything going on the following day, we decided to spend an extra night out there, but switched hotels, staying in Snowmass Village so we could relax from a busy weekend and have a Fathers Day dinner in nearby Aspen. The relaxing was great... we spend some time pool- and hottub-side by ourselves and enjoyed the quiet. Then we headed into Aspen for dinner at a restaurant that Peggy read about (and what she read about it was that Lance Armstrong frequents it, and has so recently.) As coincidence would have it, guess who was walking out as we were walking in? That brush with celebrity aside, it was a great night... the food was awesome, the service fantastic, and we spent a couple of hours together just laughing and having a great time. (Pictures in this section, top to bottom: Me before the start of the crit; Chloe and I at a wonderful Fathers Day dinner.)

Other Goings On...
- The Summer of Peggy now has an end date: July 24th. On the next day, she'll be an employee of Parexel, another pharmaceutical consulting company. She received an offer from them a couple of weeks ago. Not wanting to accept it as is (even though it was more than she expected) she counter-offered on three of the conditions and they were all approved! So, she has a little bit more than a month to work on her summer bucket list.
- Chloe completed a week of soccer camp that was led by the CU women's soccer team. It was fun to hear her talk about all of the skills her camp leaders had and she was SO excited to have the CU players sign her soccer ball.
- I know I've written a lot about the weather out here, but it still impresses us. After our stay in Snowmass Village, we were planning on doing some hiking at the nearby Maroon Bells. But a late-spring storm moved in, along with some fog and precipitation. The temperatures dropped quite a bit and we weren't prepared – or inclined – to walk around in such conditions so we drove home. The route we took took us over Independence Pass (12,095 ft), parts of which received a couple of inches of snow overnight, and some flurries were still coming down as we drove it. (Picture: some new-fallen snow on our way up and over Independence Pass.)

The Month of Fun isn't over.... in a few short days, we head to DisneyLand!

Let "The Summer of Peggy" Begin

Today was Peggy's last day of work at United BioSource Corp.

It had become clear to her over the last several months that it wasn't a good fit for her professionally, and that the only practical option for her was to submit her resignation and look for greener and happier pastures elsewhere. A lot of stock options and other incentives were there for the taking if she stayed, but other factors like day-to-day happiness and work/life balance won the day.

She doesn't have anything lined up right now, but the word has been spreading that Peggy is available and she's been getting calls and e-mails on a pretty regular basis from different companies, recruiters and former colleagues. Her not having a job lined up right away would be a scary thing in these economic times, but due to a clause in her initial contract with UBC, they have to pay her to "sit silently on the sidelines" for the next 3 months!

So, she'll have off for the next several months, and fully expects to have another job lined up by mid-June, and will get back to work in late-July.

A Post of Posts

I know it's been a while since I put anything up here, so rather than go back and create separate posts for events in the past, I'm using this post to highlight some of the recent goings on.

- I know writing about money is not the best way to lead off, but I wanted to make sure if one thing got read on this post, this item would. Next month, Chloe and I are participating in a fundraising event to benefit a local charity that provides services to families in medical crisis. (You may recall I did this last year, too, whereby I had my head shaved.) Chloe obviously won't be getting her head shaved (I will, though), but is looking to get it cut pretty short (for her) and, remembering this event from last year, wanted to tie her haircut to fundraising for this nonprofit. So, if you are so inclined to help her fundraising efforts, please visit https://shop.therewithcare.org/donate.asp to begin the donation process.

NOTE: On the final "check out" page (where billing information is entered), there's a section to personalize the transaction. To make sure your donation is attributed to Chloe, choose "On Behalf of" for the "Dedication" field, and enter "Chloe Schrammel - Give Hair with Care" for the "Name of person being honored" field.

And on behalf of Chloe, thanks your consideration and support.

- Chloe's Spring Soccer season kicked off a couple of weeks ago, and to date she and her teammates have played 3 games. The most notable change this season -- other than Chloe's marked improvement in skills due to her European training [hah!] -- is the renaming of the team. The now-former moniker of "Banana Bees" was in use for several seasons and there was a groundswell of support in the ranks to change it. So, after a round or two of voting, the girls voted to call themselves the "Fire Pickles."
Name change aside, Chloe's been playing well thus far and, to borrow an ice hockey phrase, put the biscuit in the basket at last week's game. She and her teammates have been lucky this spring season as all games thus far have been played in decent weather. In previous years, it was common for games to be either postponed due to snow or played in pretty cold conditions. With April upon us, everyone is hoping we've dodged that bullet and play the remainder of the season in decent weather. But, with Colorado weather being what it is, one can never fully tell.

- Chamberlain recently celebrated the completion of his 12th year on this earth. And by celebrated, I mean ate a huge chew stick and dined on a fair amount of cooked ground beef. And then proceeded to have an upset stomach for the next 36 hours. That short period of nastiness aside, he's in good health and trotting along just fine.

- Peg's work situation is about to change. It's been a struggle for a long time for her to come to some understanding with some powers-that-be about what precisely her role is, how much autonomy she has over the practice area she was hired to lead, and how much trust and respect she has from some supervisors. Long story short, some in organization treated her as if she had little autonomy, leaving her feeling disrespected and not trusted. It became a pretty big quality of life issue and as we're prone to say "Life's too short..." and she gave notice.
Not surprisingly, though -- especially to yours truly -- she's been approached by 2 companies already about possible senior management positions with them. And the kicker is she hasn't begun in earnest a search for a new job... these were unsolicited inquiries.

- As for me, well, I'm about to kick off yet another bike racing season this weekend with a time trial, so I get to use my new "horse." I'm also still dealing with some post-UK-bike-accident residuals. I unfortunately had to enlist the help of a lawyer to file a claim for damages resulting from my bike crash last September. Plus, the chap who knocked me over is being charged with "driving without due care" and I've been given notice that I might be asked to appear in court. Ugh. As much as I am a fan of justice, I must admit I am doing my best to not have to go... I have a feeling I'd spend more time waiting in line at airport security than I would in the witness stand.

That's it for now... I hope you enjoyed this quick recap.

A Weekend in the Mountains

Ahhh.... a weekend in the mountains. That's what we just got back from, spending 4 days/3 nights in and around Frisco, CO with 4 other families.

After going out for breakfast, we left Friday morning and headed to Arapahoe Basin, a ski area near Frisco known for both being for one of the first ski areas to open up the ski season (usually in October) and being one of the last ski resorts to close (it's not uncommon for people to ski "A-Basin" in June.) It was our first time there, and despite some bad light conditions and only 1 high speed lift, we liked it a lot... it's a no frills place where people go to ski and not necessarily "be seen." A good portion of it is above treeline -- the base sits at 10,780 feet -- so there's a lot of open skiing to be had.

On Saturday, it was a mixture of activities for us. I gave skate skiing a try (follow the link for info. if needed), Peggy and Chloe did some sledding, and Peggy and a friend snuck in an afternoon of skiing at Breckenridge.

On Sunday, it was a day of family skiing at Breckenridge, enjoying some long runs, short lift lines and about 4 inches of new snow.

Monday was checkout, which was a total bummer for 12" of new snow had fallen overnight and we were itching to get to a ski area, but we needed to head back to Boulder to unpack, do laundry and allow Peggy get ready to leave tomorrow for a conference in Arizona.

Below are some pictures from the weekend.

The first 4 pictures are views of and from the sledding hill that Chloe and Peggy were on.

About this last picture... it was taken by our good friend Carole. Pretty spectacular, yes? Well, not only is the "air" that Chloe got spectacular, apparently, the crash that happened immediately afterward was similarly so. Just out of frame is another incline for a jump, and unfortunately for Chloe, she landed right on it. After regaining her "wind" and composure, Chloe ambled back up the hill and continued sledding.

Pix from Day Skiing at Keystone

View of Breckenridge from Keystone

Self photo

Chloe and Peggy on the connector gondola

Chloe with peaks and pines

Happy Birthday Peggy!

Peggy trips the odometer over to 40 years today.

And in anticipation of this milestone, we spent a celebratory weekend in Vail last weekend. I think I can speak for Peg on this one when I say we had a great time... great skiing, great snow, great weather, great dinners, etc.

To the right and below are some pictures from the weekend.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Heading Home

Our time here in the UK is coming to an earlier-than-anticipated end. The backstory:

Peggy was asked to come over here and "stabilize" the UK office as it had been foundering and losing key personnel, which she did in June. She did such a good job and was asked to stay on longer to now run the UK office and eventually hire her replacement. She accomplished both in relatively short order, leaving her to transition back to the job she was doing in Boulder. Then the buyout came.

Her (now previous) company UBC was acquired by a company called Medco Health Solutions, and accompanying the buyout was the obligatory restructuring. One of the results of this restructuring was a redefined role for Peggy, one that was largely US-based and requiring time to be spent in meetings with US colleagues and clients (which would then require a lot of US travel.)

So rather than try to keep up with the transatlantic travel and try to work US hours while on UK time, we decided to explore the possibility of returning early to address both professional and personal concerns. A few exploratory emails and phone calls later and it was settled... we'd returning to the US in late-December.

To be sure, there will be things we'll miss by leaving early (that's a post for another day.) But when you start looking at what day-to-day life would be like for all of us here and Peggy working (in some manner) there, the choice was pretty simple.

The countdown is on... liftoff is in T-minus 21 days.

Send the Word Over There That the Yanks are Coming...

... and there's one on the scout team already there!

This is one of the few posts on this blog that is being written on the same day as the event, and is being written as Chloe and I sit in the British Airways lounge awaiting our flight to London to join Peggy who's been there for a bit over 2 weeks already. (We're getting a kick out of the accent we're hearing in the lounge, and we've been immersed for less than 45 minutes, and in "the colonies" no less.)

The next several weeks are sure to be quite an experience for all of us... even Chamberlain, who despite staying stateside, will surely be spoiled rotten by the woman taking care of him whilst (see, it's catching on!) we're away. We'll surely see a fair bit of London, but have plans to be in Paris for the last stage of the Tour de France (Peg had to twist my arm for that trip!), and it looks like Chloe and I will join Peggy on business trips to Geneva and Cologne. We also hope to catch a match at Wimbledon and are looking to take a trip over 4th of July weekend to Edinburgh (we were thinking about hosting a 4th of July cookout for some of Peg's coworkers and friends we have here as a slight nose-thumb to the monarchy!)

Well, pip pip cheerio, al-you-min-yum, shed-yule, bloody (noun), and all that jazz... more to come from the island.

A BolderBoulder to Remember

And here’s another entry from your guest blogger, Peggy….

Many of you may recall that I ran my first BolderBoulder last May. The 10K is the largest in the country with a field of ~52,000 runners and is pretty much a 6-mile long party. Oh, of course, there are those that take this quite seriously (like my friend Terry Gillach who turned in a sub-40 time…crazy man. And I say that with a great deal of admiration, for Terry is old) but I looked forward to it this year most of all because Chloe had agreed to be my running buddy for the race.

We did a couple of “training” runs prior to the race but agreed that our rules for that day were to a) have fun and b) go at the pace that Chloe wanted to go, be it running or walking. Of course, looking the part is just as important as the actual run, so Chloe and I decided to wear matching “RUN LIKE A GIRL” t-shirts and put our hair up in big pink-ribbon ponytails. And we were especially thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa Schrammel had come to watch us run it.

Kurt dropped us off at the Start at around 8:30 AM on Memorial Day. And after hitting the porta-potties (first rule of running: ALWAYS use the porta-potties) we made our way to our wave, lined up and waited for the gun to go off. Chloe was SO nervous….everyone around us was singing and dancing and she was quiet…I could tell that she was worried. Once I reminded her of our two rules and got her grooving to “YMCA” blasting over the loud speaker, she loosened up and began to have fun.

Finally, our wave was called to the post (yep, with the trumpet…just like at a horse race) and we heard the gun go off. I reminded Chloe to go nice and slow and enjoy the fun. She was getting hot and slowed to a walk at about mile 1.5 but then her spirits lifted, as the next 3.5 miles had LOTS of opportunities for Chloe to get wet….spectators sitting in lawn chairs with garden hoses pointed at the crowd which she ran through, slip and slides in yards that she slid down and best of all….Chloe running into a yard and doing a belly flop into an inflatable pool. All this made the time fly by!

We saw Kurt and his parents at about mile 4 and continued on, mixing jogging with walking, being urged on by spectators yelling “RUN LIKE A GIRL! YEAH!” Upon entering Folsom Field/CU Stadium I told Chloe to go slow down the first stretch and then sprint when she made the turn. And MAN, did she take off….being a 7 year old allowed her to bob and weave between folks as she made her way to the finish. And finish she did…about 2 seconds ahead of me. Did she legitimately beat me or did I let her win? While it’s not as controversial as the Immaculate Reception, like Fuqua, I am taking it the grave. All’s I know is that my little Franco scored big!

At any rate, Chloe and I had a great time and plan on doing this race together every year possible!

Right-side photos, top to bottom: a sampling of the "entertainment" along the way, and yes, that is a male belly dancer; not everyone wears traditional running attire, or shoes; The King (of sorts.)

Left-side photos, top to bottom: Chloe with still a lot of spunk at Mile 4; Chloe and Peggy celebrating at the Finish Line; A pre-race photo.

What a Weekend!

Skiing. Sledding. Snowmobiling. Swimming. Cross-country skiing. Ice skating.

These are the things some or all of us did this weekend with friends around Winter Park, CO. With Chloe not having school on Friday (teacher in-service), we were able to spend a 3-day weekend in the mountains with friends, Colorado-style. Here's the rough itinerary for each day: Wake up. Have a gut-busting breakfast. Spend a good bit of the day outside doing something. Come in for an awesome dinner. Hang out with friends for a while. Go to sleep. Then, to top it off, after returning to Boulder this afternoon, it was off to another friends' home for yet another awesome dinner!

Below are some pix and vid of this fabulous weekend. (Clicking on a picture enlarges it.)

Peggy and I after a day of skiing
at Winter Park.

No comment.

Peggy enjoying the après-ski.

Peggy and Kim celebrating a
successful day on the slopes.

Chloe making her way back
to the top of the sledding hill.
Nice views, eh?

Chloe and "The Blue Flash."

Views of the Continental Divide

from our cabin.

Another view of the Continental
Divide from our cabin.

Picture of Rollins Pass, taken

during snowmobile tour.

Carl, I and Jamie during
the snowmobile tour.

View of Winter Park
and Mary Jane

Some sledding videos...

Jamie and Carl snowmobiling